This is for people who want to find the Lord. The author shows that finding God is not a vague matter, for there is a definite way of salvation provided by God, and revealed in the Bible. Responding to this message leads to conversion – a great change which brings a person to know and relate to the living God.
Extract
How to Seek and Find the Lord
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
(Proverbs 2.1; the words of Solomon, King of Israel 971-931 BC)
MANY PEOPLE wander far from God, exploring all the attractions of this present world but finding nothing substantial, and much pain and disappointment along the way. Yet, as the years pass, they cling almost desperately to the lifestyle which has failed them. ‘If only,’ King Solomon seems to say, ‘we could put old heads on young shoulders and deliver the next generation from the fraud of a vain world which will steal their minds, hearts and souls, and never keep its promises.’
There is obvious tenderness in the appeal – ‘My son, if thou wilt receive my words.’ If we would only listen to God and turn to Him we would make great discoveries, receive countless experiences of His involvement in our lives, and gain wisdom and discernment also. However, there is a small but vital word in the way – ‘If…if…if’. If only we would receive His words, that little word being the condition that decides whether or not we shall find the Lord.
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Proverbs 2 (full chapter)
1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 13Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: 16To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; 17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. 18For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. 22But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
